Chirac

A much quoted, but illustrating quote:

“IN THE deprived suburbs, a kind of soft terror rules. When too many young people see nothing ahead but unemployment after they leave school, they end up rebelling. For a time the state can struggle to impose order, and rely on welfare benefits to avoid worse. But how long can this last?”

Written by Jacques Chirac in 1995 (the year in which he became president of France) illustrates the foreknowledge of the riots ten years hence, but exposes the difficulties of solving the problem. While Chirac knew quite well the problems of the suburbs of Paris (and other French cities) that stem from a xenophobia unsurpassed in Western Europe, the political will is not there to stem the tide of disenfranchisement felt by immigrant youth (I hate the focus on their religion, Islam, which in this case appears thus far to be completely irrelevant). Without the will to help all of society have equal opportunity, in the next 10 years, the scenario occuring in France could happen anywhere in the world (if it already is not happening). With Russia bringing in the new (old) holiday of its independence from the Poles in 1612 and the current weak centrist government in Germany (and the split within both the Labour Party in the U.K. and the Republican Party in the U.S.), there exists the possibility that nationalist parties in all these countries could grow, even becoming ruling parties (although still unlikely). Even if they do not take power, they will usher in a new xenophobia that will be easy to spread. In Russia, the ruling party, United Russia has leaned towards a resurgence of nationalism for its popularity; in Germany, with the unstable coalition of the SPD and the CDU/CSU, the fring parties will be working hard to gain strength for the next elections (quite possibly in the next year if the current coalition cannot hold together). In the U.K., the split within Labour over the war in Iraq and the growth of the anti-war Liberal Democrats splits the left vote and provides room for a Tory resurgence under an anti-immigration/xenophobic platform. In the U.S., the fracturing of the Republicans, especially over Bush's proposed immigration reform, could push many Republicans towards the Pat Buchanan xenophobe camp. The future could be rough if we do not work to stem the tide of xenophobia and nationalism.